Wave

Nature
of
Matter
 Wave-Particle Duality
• de Broglie proposed
that particles with
momentum could
have an associated
wavelength (converse
of photons having
momentum)
• de Broglie wavelength
h h
  or p 
p 

• only small, high speed particles will show

wave characteristics (diffraction,
interference)
• normal sized objects have wavelengths
that are too small to be noticed, but for
elementary particles, the wavelengths are
the size of nuclei
 Example
• A 0.15 kg baseball is moving at 40 m/s.
Determine its de Broglie wavelength
 Solution
h • Atomic diameter: 10-10 m

p
• Nuclear diameter: 10-14
m
6.63 10- 34 J  s

0.15kg  40m / s •  << size of nucleus, so
  1.110  34 m we would not measure
any wave properties
 Example
• An electron is accelerated from rest by a
potential difference of 1.50 kV. Determine
the de Broglie wavelength of the electron.
Solution
 Evidence
• Davisson and Germer reflected a beam of
electrons off a crystal and obtained a
series of maxima and minima patterns
(just like a beam of light would give a
series of light and dark bands when it
passed through a diffraction grating)
 Thomson
• G.P. Thomson detected electron
diffraction patterns by passing a beam of
electrons through a metal foil and
obtaining an interference pattern
X-ray beam through Al Electron beam through
foil Al foil
• The Nobel Prize in
Physics 1937 was
awarded jointly to
Davisson and
Thomson "for their
experimental
discovery of the
diffraction of electrons
by crystals"
 Significance of the de Broglie
Hypothesis
• extended Einstein's work to relate the
observed wavelength of matter to its
momentum

• showed that wave particle duality was not

only a strange behavior of light, but was a
fundamental principle exhibited by both
radiation and matter.
 Back to Bohr…
• de Broglie’s theory of matter waves can be used
to explain why electrons did not radiate in the
Bohr model

• de Broglie viewed the electron as a standing

wave

• the wavelength would be longer in higher energy

levels because the electron speed is lower
• the circumference
of an allowed orbit
would be a whole
number of electron
wavelengths
• if a whole-number
of wave lengths
don’t fit the
circumference, the
result is
destructive
interference
Classical view of electrons
(electrons are particles)

Lots of electrons
pass through top
opening

Lots of electrons
pass through
bottom opening

No electrons land directly on centre of screen

 Electron diffraction
• When electrons are fired through 2 slits, a
diffraction pattern forms whether electrons are
fired one-by-one or in a continuous stream
Single electron events built up from an interference
pattern in the double-slit experiment.
 Quantum Mechanical Model
• Quantum mechanics combines the
particle-wave nature of matter and energy
into a single theory
• according to quantum mechanics,
electrons do not exist in well defined orbits
as proposed by Bohr

• quantum mechanics refer to orbitals

• the theory can only predict the probability
of finding an electron in a certain region of
space around the nucleus due to the wave
nature of matter
 Electron Cloud
• the region where the probability of finding an
electron is high
• Bohr’s idea of allowed energy states still
applies

• An electron will have 1 of the allowed

energy states, but the state doesn’t
correspond to a particular orbit
Distance from nucleus
• Higher energy states means a higher
probability of finding the electron further
from the nucleus
 Wavefunction
• The wave function represents the
probability of finding a particle at a given
point.

• These probability equations can diffract,

interfere, and exhibit other wave-like
properties
 Compare and contrast: waves &
particles
Waves Particles
• Extended in space • Points

• Continuous • Discontinuous

• Obey wave equations • Obey equations of

mechanics

• Diffract and interfere • Collide and bounce

• Have amplitude, • Mass, size, velocity,

wavelength, frequency & momentum
velocity
 STS
• Electron microscopes use the wave nature
of electrons to produce magnifications
much larger than with optical microscopes

• The wavelengths are about ten thousand

times smaller than that of light
• Electrons are
accelerated from the
electron gun to the
anode.

• The magnetic lens

exerts a force on
electrons; they spiral
and become focused

• Scanning coils deflect

the beam of electrons
back and forth across
the specimen
 Detecting Gravity Waves

• Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of

space and time by the collision of two black holes
or by the cores of supernova explosions.
 Detecting Gravity Waves

• Gravity waves will compress space in 1 direction

and stretch it in the other. Light is split into two
beams
 Detecting Gravity Waves

• If the lengths of both arms remain unchanged, the

2 combining laser beams will cancel each other
out
 Detecting Gravity Waves

• If a gravity wave changed the length of the arms,

the light beams would not cancel out, changing
the interference pattern